Colonization
In the Stellar Adventures Project, space-faring factions will often find it necessary or otherwise desirable to expand to neighboring systems and spread their influence as far as possible across the galaxy. However, in order to expand your empire it'll take more than just your word to place those systems under your control. While all players are allotted a basic number of systems they are allowed to claim, at present that limit can be seen in Technology , you also have the option to construct major settlements (which must be built at your place) to boost the number of settlements you may rightfully control, with each settlement allowing you to claim an additional TEN systems. In addition to allowing you to claim more systems, constructing settlements also helps better secure your claims during territory disputes, and building settlements makes tier progression easier and faster. As of SAP 3 we are also introducing a new way to earn those extra systems. Handmade assets No longer are settlements the only way to earn extra systems. Now you can also earn TEN '''extra systems for each original player made asset like flag or coat-of-arms. You must however provide proof that the unit or whatever you made is actually made by '''YOU! '''Evidence can be pretty much anything as long as it proves you made it. '''Example assets: * A unit (tank, soldier etc) * Flag * Coat-of-Arms * General art relating to your empire. Basic Requirements All settlements have some few basic requirements they must meet in order to be recognized. These requirements ensure that at least a basic level of detail and effort is put into the construction of these settlements as well as helping ensure that settlements are a fair degree realistic and believable. While we recognize that there can often come some controversy and some pains with establishing required aspects for settlements, these requirements have been designed to be as vague and unrestrictive as possible, allowing for a wide variety of interpretations while still ensuring settlements meet some basic standards. #While it is possible for a faction to be preindustrial (see: Technology) and as such potentially not have power generating capabilities, such a race would also not be able to spread across multiple systems and as such would find no use in settlements. That said, all settlements should have some source of power, though what sort of method is used to generate that power and whether they specify such or give only vague details is up to the player, so long as the means of power generation are appropriate for their technological tier. #Taking into account the existence of nonorganic intelligent life and a significant degree of diversity among organic life, all settlements should have the ability to meet the basic necessities to maintaining their population, whether that mean sources of food and fresh water or a power recharging center or a data storage center or whatever is best suited to sustaining that specific population. #Again ignoring preindustrial civilizations due to their inability to colonize other systems, it is important that a colony have the ability to communicate with the other worlds of your empire, as such all settlements should have some sort of communication center, depending on your tier this could mean some sort of high tech faster than light array or for middle tiers maybe a television station or a radio station or maybe somewhere with a lot of internet-capable computers or in the rare instance when a lower tier faction is allowed to colonize systems with the aid of a higher tier civilization then perhaps even a telegraph network. #Considering that few civilizations will find it possible to flourish, let alone maintain a stable existence, without some means by which to travel between populated regions, all settlements should have at least some infrastructure which supports transportation, whether that mean a space port or a space elevator or even just an airfield or so on. (Note: Each of these requirements is followed by some examples, though these examples are just that, examples, and as such shouldn't be mistaken as saying you can only build those things listed, so long as it meets the requirements stated then it should be fine, if you have an idea besides, say, a space port or space elevator for requirement four that you want to build, you're free to so long as it deals with the bolded requirement.) Over Expansion While we have tried to lay out the limits as best as we can, there will unfortunately be times where a faction has expanded to too many systems, grown beyond their means that is to say. All empires begin with a base limit of up to five systems, and that limit rises by between five and nine depending on what class of settlements you build, but if you should expand even one system above that (though not half a system, shared and vassal systems only count as half a system and only half a system above your limit, the Council has ruled through precedent, is not enough to overwhelm your society) then you shall be growing your empire beyond what it has the means to support, and as such it shall face consequences for this overexpansion as time goes on. Disconnected colonies/systems get overexpansion consequences as well. Disconnected colonies/systems are 5 systems away from the nearest borders of the owner or 5 systems away from the nearest natural wormhole connected to the nation's borders. While in the past, we’ve established complex rules for how this process of penalties for overexpansion works, this process has now been simplified so that one no longer needs to check tables and dense lists to know what is coming their way. When you are over expanded, beginning with when your systems are formally recognized by the official map (for a claim to be considered legitimate it should be on this map or clearly pending for addition to it), here are the steps the Administrative Council will begin to take: 'Step 1' The List of Empires in SAP2 by Size page will be updated to indicate you have officially expanded beyond your given limit, and by how much you are over that limit. From here on, until this issue has been resolved your territorial claims shall be considered weakened, any border disputes had will inherently favor any aggressor who is not themself over expanded, and the Council shall begin to issue rulings with an inherent bias against your empire - including more readily allowing another faction to invade you without your express consent and more readily declining any war you attempt to commence without the consent of your intended target. Effectively, you have lost the favor and protection of the Council, and are wide open to attack and abuse. 'Step 2' After two weeks without confirmation that you have begun to work on the settlement or settlements necessary to resolve this issue, or four weeks if we have received confirmation, or after such time without the issue being resolved in any other manner, such as abandoning excess systems, the Administrative Council shall commence a series of roleplay posts about the status of your empire, these posts shall be inherently canon and can not be ignored, you can not directly contradict these posts and any post that attempts to do so shall not be considered canon. The Council shall, at a rate of as many days as it should see suitable, roleplay the following events, in this order: # Resource shortages shall place strain on national economy, trade capabilities, and social institutions. # National security shall be reduced, policing shall become difficult resulting in a rise in crime and lawlessness and general anarchy in most distant territories. # Humanitarian crisis shall arise among outer territories, with food, medical, or other vital resources for survival scarce. # Popular unrest shall begin to spread across nation, the armed forces shall begin to sporadically cease obeying orders. # Excess territories or one-third of the nation, which ever shall be largest, shall secede from the nation in open revolt, forming their own independent state. Once this cycle has been completed, whether the previously overexpanded nation is left standing or not is the choice of the player in control of it, however its systems shall remain occupied by a new NPC faction of Admin-design if they should abandon it and the secessionist state shall also regardless be an NPC faction of Admin-design, though input from the player is welcome. If a empire should stop being overexpanded while in the middle of this step, whether through building a settlement or some other means, then the stages shall immediately stop progressing, however not reversed, and the empire will immediately progress to Step three, alberit for half as long as that Step normally lasts. During the course of Step 3, this no longer overexpanded empire will begin to recover from the issues it faced under Step 2. 'Step 3' The List of Empires in SAP2 by Size page will be updated to indicate the empire is no longer over expanded, but the empire, if left standing and owned by its creator, shall remain with some lingering restrictions. For a period of one month following the conclusion of the cycle of Step 2, the empire in question shall only be able to have half as many forces as its fleet limit. The effects of Step 1 will end upon the conclusion of Step 1, territorial claims shall return to normal strength and the Council shall show no bias against the empire in question. Essentially, we'll love you again, and isn't that what you really want deep down, to feel our love again? Related Pages *List of Colonies *Rules of Engagement *Settlement Approval Thread Category:SAP2